7th January 2019 Edinburgh It is a month since I returned, and I am back in my beautiful hometown of Edinburgh, which looks something like this ↑ If you haven’t visited before, you really should. It has everything you could want: history, beaches, art, music, cafes, parks, architecture, theatre, pubs, royalty, mountains, cuisine, fresh air,…
Mongolia Epilogue
It’s not entirely easy to sum up seven months of cycling towards a destination I have been aiming for – at least mentally – for half of my life, but I have been giving it a go. If you’ll forgive a more reflective post, here are my thoughts on completing my journey. Arriving in Ulaanbaatar…
Review: The Kit
I am very pleased with my kit choices. I threw away a handful of things and lost a couple of others, but by and large I made good decisions and I would take the vast majority of it again (except that ukulele, but I think we’ll just pretend that never happened…). Here are my…
How It Works: Navigation and Planning
I used quite a number of different sources for route mapping over the year, and would always use two or three sources when determining the route ahead to be sure that it was the best option – or at least to make sure that I made the route choice for the right reasons, even if…
#80 A Smooth Landing
7th December Bangkok. Stockholm. London. I sat on a stool, drinking a last mango juice, watching two Bangkok bicycle mechanics dismantle Penelope. It was time to box her up before we flew home early the next morning. I wanted to do it myself – I know her so well, and her little tweaks and where…
#79 The Venice of the East
3rd – 6th December Bangkok I spent all of 3rd December on a coach going from Phnom Penh to Bangkok. I didn’t have time to cycle it before my booked flight home – or not if I wanted to do any sightseeing as well – and flying such a short distance seemed all wrong. I…
#78 The Bewilderment of Relaxation
29th November – 2nd December Koh Rong Sanloem I wasn’t sad to leave Phnom Penh. It’s impossible not to feel affected by witnessing the remnants of a mass genocide which took place only shortly before my lifetime, and the rest of the city was not an enticing place to spend my time, and I’d also…
#77 Cambodia’s Tortured Past
27th – 28th November Phnom Penh. 25km With two weeks until my flight home and my cycling destination of Angkor Wat reached, my “holiday” commenced, starting with taking the bus from Siem Reap to Phnom Penh, the modern capital of Cambodia, where I arrived at lunchtime. It’s a funny thing to take transport after so…
#76 The Pilgrimage Concludes
21st November Stung Treng to Preah Vihear. 143km I had changed my mind about this route more times than anyone could keep up with, and my daily messages with Celine2 and Flo announced a new plan daily. Option 1 was to continue along the Mekong on National Route 7 which I had been on yesterday,…
#75 A Train Going Nowhere
17th November Champasak to Don Det. 121km I think it’s probably reasonably apparent from my recent writing that my mood is fluctuating a little out here. I think I have resolved the reasons why: South East Asia is wonderful. I am hugely enjoying being here, seeing the temples and rivers and jungle and smiling faces…
#74 Take Me Back to the Desert
11th November Nahin to Thakhek. 111km I’ve been doing some reading. It’s perhaps a little late, but we could call it retrospective research on where I have been. I was wondering how many deserts I have been through this year, because it feels like rather a lot and I’m wondering if I’m missing them a…
GOBI / BIKE 